BY LANCE ROY
SUN FREELANCE WRITER
HOLMES BEACH –The Artists’ Guild of Anna Maria Island brought its creativity out from beyond the gallery walls and onto the sidewalk during its monthly “Paint the Town” Friday market walk.
Held outside the Artists Guild gallery in The Island Shopping Center on Friday, Jan. 8, the informal art event bought neighbors and community members together, drawn by conversation, shared stories and a shared sense of creativity.
The event also honored the Guild’s January artist month, Wendell Graham. During the gathering, many attendees stopped to embrace Graham, whose presence was felt as much through her personal warmth as it was through the artwork she creates.
As a longtime member of the Artists’ Guild, Graham has built her artistic journey around connection, community and a deep appreciation for shared experience. She began her career in 1978 as a graphic illustrator in the U.S. Army, later serving as a photojournalist and advancing through leadership roles in public affairs, training, operations, education and professional development.
Graham retired as a command sergeant major from the Rhode Island Army National Guard after 28 ½ of service, followed by an 18-year career at Boston College.
Her professional life reflected discipline, leadership and service – qualities that continue to shape her creative work today. Rather than slowing down after retirement, Graham and her husband, Tom McLaughlin, embraced adventure, spending years parachuting and skydiving with multiple groups in the northeast.
That same sense of motion and exploration carried over naturally into her art. Her work spans oil, acrylic and watercolor, along with photography, dyes, inks, colored pencils and crayons. She often incorporates natural elements such as flora, feathers, wax and wood, creating richly textured paintings and sculptures that feel layered and alive.
Graham describes her work as an expression of her love for western Florida.
“It’s not just the beaches people expect,” she said. “It’s the hidden Florida water and land.”
The evening included a raffle featuring four collaborative artworks created through a paint-around process in which the four participating artists rotated canvases every few minutes, adding their own creative touch to each painting. The paint-around artists were Graham, LuAnn Widegreen, Leslie Robbins and Sandy Staley. The paint-around raffle proceeds will benefit a creative arts student scholarship program for Manatee County high school students.
The Guild’s next “Paint the Town” event is scheduled for Friday, Feb. 13, at 5 p.m. at the Artists’ Guild gallery located at 5414 Marina Drive.
